Humming along...no more

I got a new cup. It’s a beaut: It’s completely made of corn polymer and—in the interest of full disclosure—it was free, a promotional gift from the fine people at Lot 44.



Big whoop, right? But this eco-conscious arrival is a watershed event for me. Not to get overly dramatic, but my old commuter mug put me in a Chekhovian conundrum.



Despite somebody’s industrious attempts to color in the letters with a red Sharpie, one can clearly detect “Hummer” emblazoned on the front. No, the irony is not lost on me. I got it at a magazine event, like, four years ago, and back then, Hummer wasn't even a little bit embarrassed about its humongous disregard for our roads, our oil consumption and the quality of our air.

And, yet, to get a replacement—one that wouldn’t cause me to perform finger-gymnastics to hide the offending letters—would mean the indignity of paying good money to then toss it into a landfill. So I would “conveniently” leave my reusable mug at home and, in turn, participate in the massive waste of paper cups for my morning coffee. (And if you don’t think it—or you—are a problem, there's an amazing coffee waste calculator that might tell you differently.)

But enough guilt-ridden talk. This new blue baby requires action. I told myself I won’t pick up coffee unless I have this mug with me. I’ll let you know whether it leads to any work-related casualties.

—Jiyeon Yoo